Recent Advances in Modeling Stellar Interiors

Advances in stellar interior modeling are being driven by new data from large-scale surveys and high-precision photometric and spectroscopic observations. Here we focus on single stars in normal evolutionary phases; we will not discuss the many advances in modeling star formation, interacting binaries, supernovae, or neutron stars. We review briefly: 1) updates to input physics of stellar models; 2) progress in two and three-dimensional evolution and hydrodynamic models; 3) insights from oscillation data used to infer stellar interior structure and validate model predictions (asteroseismology). We close by highlighting a few outstanding problems, e.g., the driving mechanisms for hybrid gamma Dor/delta Sct star pulsations, the cause of giant eruptions seen in luminous blue variables such as eta Car and P Cyg, and the solar abundance problem.Comment: Proceedings for invited talk at conference High Energy Density Laboratory Astrophysics 2010, Caltech, March 2010, submitted for special issue of Astrophysics and Space Science; 7 pages; 5 figure

A frontal attention mechanism in the visual mismatch negativity

Automatic detection of environmental change is a core component of attention. The mismatch negativity (MMN), an electrophysiological marker of this mechanism, has been studied prominently in the auditory domain, with cortical generators identified in temporal and frontal regions. Here, we combined electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess whether the underlying frontal regions associated with auditory change detection also play a role in visual change detection. Twenty healthy young adults completed a visual MMN task in separate EEG and fMRI sessions. Region of interest analyses were conducted on left and right middle frontal (MFG) and inferior frontal (IFG) gyri, i.e., the frontal areas identified as potential auditory MMN generators. A significant increase in activation was observed in the left IFG and MFG in response to blocks containing deviant stimuli. These findings suggest that a frontal mechanism is involved in the detection of change in the visual MMN. Our results support the notion that frontal mechanisms underlie attention switching, as measured via MMN, across multiple modalities

Post-acute COVID-19 neuropsychiatric symptoms are not associated with ongoing nervous system injury

A proportion of patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 experience a range of neuropsychiatric symptoms months after infection, including cognitive deficits, depression and anxiety. The mechanisms underpinning such symptoms remain elusive. Recent research has demonstrated that nervous system injury can occur during COVID-19. Whether ongoing neural injury in the months after COVID-19 accounts for the ongoing or emergent neuropsychiatric symptoms is unclear. Within a large prospective cohort study of adult survivors who were hospitalized for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, we analysed plasma markers of nervous system injury and astrocytic activation, measured 6 months post-infection: neurofilament light, glial fibrillary acidic protein and total tau protein. We assessed whether these markers were associated with the severity of the acute COVID-19 illness and with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms (as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire for depression, the General Anxiety Disorder assessment for anxiety, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment for objective cognitive deficit and the cognitive items of the Patient Symptom Questionnaire for subjective cognitive deficit) at 6 months and 1 year post-hospital discharge from COVID-19. No robust associations were found between markers of nervous system injury and severity of acute COVID-19 (except for an association of small effect size between duration of admission and neurofilament light) nor with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms. These results suggest that ongoing neuropsychiatric symptoms are not due to ongoing neural injury

Large-scale phenotyping of patients with long COVID post-hospitalization reveals mechanistic subtypes of disease

One in ten severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections result in prolonged symptoms termed long coronavirus disease (COVID), yet disease phenotypes and mechanisms are poorly understood1. Here we profiled 368 plasma proteins in 657 participants ≥3 months following hospitalization. Of these, 426 had at least one long COVID symptom and 233 had fully recovered. Elevated markers of myeloid inflammation and complement activation were associated with long COVID. IL-1R2, MATN2 and COLEC12 were associated with cardiorespiratory symptoms, fatigue and anxiety/depression; MATN2, CSF3 and C1QA were elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms and C1QA was elevated in cognitive impairment. Additional markers of alterations in nerve tissue repair (SPON-1 and NFASC) were elevated in those with cognitive impairment and SCG3, suggestive of brain–gut axis disturbance, was elevated in gastrointestinal symptoms. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) was persistently elevated in some individuals with long COVID, but virus was not detected in sputum. Analysis of inflammatory markers in nasal fluids showed no association with symptoms. Our study aimed to understand inflammatory processes that underlie long COVID and was not designed for biomarker discovery. Our findings suggest that specific inflammatory pathways related to tissue damage are implicated in subtypes of long COVID, which might be targeted in future therapeutic trials

Initial measurement of impurity production and hydrogen energy distribution from neutral beam injectors

Impurity production and hydrogen energy distributions for neutral beam injectors (NBI) developed by the plasma Technology Section of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL's) Fusion Energy Division have been measured by exposing silicon samples to beam pulses and analyzing them by nuclear microanalysis and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) techniques. The NBI's have been developed for use on the princeton Large Torus (PLT), the Poloidal Divertor Experiment (PDX), and the Impurity Study Experiment (ISX). Extraction voltages O up to 50 kV are used, and maximum power injected for a 0.5-s pulse is approx. 1.2 MW with a design goal of 1.5 MW. The Medium Energy Test Facility (MRTF) was used for exposure of the single-crystal (100) silicon samples

Titanium as a cathodoluminescence activator in alkali feldspars

Albite patches in coarsely mesoperthitic alkali feldspars from the Klokken syenite have oscillatory zoning seen at blue wavelengths using cathodoluminescence. Using a five-spectrometer, high-resolution elemental mapping technique in an electron probe, we show a close correspondence between CL emission intensity and Ti, present at levels up to ∼200 ppm. Albite patches were analyzed for major and 16 trace elements by laser-ablation inductively coupled-plasma mass spectrometry. SEM elemental maps acquired simultaneously with the CL showed that a similar zoning pattern is exhibited by Ca, but there is no correlation between CL intensity and Ca concentration. None of the trace elements analyzed correlate with Ti. We conclude that tetrahedral Ti4+ is the most likely activator of blue luminescence in these albitic alkali feldspars possibly because of a defect associated with Al-O-Ti bridges

Depth distributions of low energy deuterium implanted into silicon as determined by SIMS

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) has been used to determine depth profiles of deuterium implanted into single crystal silicon targets at energies between 0.1 and 5 keV. The atomic mixing inherent in the sputtering process, which directly affects depth resolution, has been reduced by using a bombarding particle of low energy and high Z impacting the sample at a large angle relative to the surface normal (3 keV, Cs/sup +/, impacting at 60/sup 0/). Using this procedure, depth resolution of 20 A at a depth of 800 A has been obtained in depth profiling of Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/ on Ta. Mean projected range and straggling of the implant profiles are in good agreement with calculations when irradiations are performed at 11/sup 0/ from the normal to the (100) plane to prevent channeling. The saturation density of trapped deuterium has also been determined to be 1.4 x 10/sup 22/ D/cm/sup 3/

Long-term changes in the surface conditions of PLT

Long-term changes in the surface conditions of the PLT vacuum vessel wall have been monitoried by the periodic analysis of a variety of sample substrates (stainless steel, alumina, silicon), exposed to PLT discharges for periods of up to several months and subsequently removed for analysis by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), photoelectron spectroscopy (ESCA), ion backscattering, nuclear reaction analysis, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and scanning electron microscopy. Samples exposed for extended time periods (2 to 6 months) showed deposited films containing limiter (W) and liner constituent metals (Fe, Cr, and Ni) and C and O. The film thicknesses ranged between 100 to 200 A with 2 to 15 atomic percent W and 5 to 40 percent Fe as determined by sputter-AES and ion backscattering measurements. Increased deposition of metallic impurities (W, Fe) was noted following the first extensive application of low power discharge cleaning. We discuss possible mechanisms responsible for the deposition of metals onto the sample surfaces. Deuterium retention was observed in all the exposed samples with the deuterium depth profiles restricted primarily to the deposited films on the stainless steel substrates and extending deeper for Si. The deuterium retained in the exposed samples shows a saturation at (1 to 11) x 10/sup 15/D atoms/cm/sup 2/ for an estimated variation in the deuterium fluence of 10/sup 17/ to 10/sup 19/D atoms/cm/sup 2/